Comfort Zone
by milkshakehobo
Summary: Sometimes, your best friend can be the best thing ever. [Craig x Heidi]


A/N: This was intended as… Kind of character sketches, I suppose… To get a feel of how I imagine their characters. And then I really liked how the story came out and I decided to share. Enjoy!

Craig had been knocked out when his phone rang, just as soon as the sky turned dark. Grousing mentally, he slogged out of his bed and fumbled for the wireless phone on his desk. "… H'lo?" He grunted groggily.

"C-Craig…? Did I wake you up?" It was Heidi, and the tone of her voice, broken and cracking, immediately pulled him into full consciousness and made his blood pressure rise in the expectancy of something that was bound to make him angry.

"Heidi? What happened?" Craig asked, shrugging off his fatigue.

"O-Oh…" Her end of the line went quiet, and Craig coughed into the phone to make sure it hadn't died.

"… Just… Kevin…"

Kevin was Heidi's on-again off-again boyfriend, and as soon as they'd gotten together, Craig immediately voiced his dislike for the other boy. Heidi, to him, was on the same level as his little sister, and therefore, he protected her just like he protected Tweek, Clyde, and even Token.

"… What'd he do?" Craig growled tersely, and Heidi whimpered.

"Please, Craig, don't get like that…" She murmured, and Craig suddenly got a clear mental picture of her, curled on her bed in the dark, cradling the phone at her mouth. "… He dumped me… Again…"

Craig made another growling sound deep in his throat, and Heidi sniffled. This is what made him stop plotting murder and actually listen.

Heidi wasn't the type of girl to _sniffle_. She cried, of course, but she cried in short bursts, just enough to get it out of her system, and then she returned to being the cocky, confident girl that she was. Sniffling meant that she was crying a lot harder than she normally did.

"… I'm coming over. Open your window." Craig hung up before Heidi could respond, pulling on a blue, zip-up hoodie and his aviator cap before he climbed out the window and snuck to his car, in only those, the T-shirt and running shorts he'd been sleeping in, socks and sandals. Not the most attractive or the warmest, but Heidi lived close enough for him to go out like that without any major consequence.

Craig shimmied up the rain gutter with ease after parking down the street. Heidi's stepfather was almost as protective of her as he was, and he didn't like the fact that Craig kept coming over. Thus, the rain gutter was Craig's primary means of entrance.

He smirked, feeling every bit the rebel that gossip said he was. Heidi's step-dad would _kill_ him if he knew what was putting dents in his duct system.

Thankfully, Heidi had unlocked her window, and Craig pulled it open clumsily before awkwardly climbing inside.

"Heidi?"

Her room had barely changed at all. Heidi had a large, posted canopy bed, complete with pink, princess-y curtains and a collection of teddy bears arranged on the pillows. Everything was incredibly pink, plush and fluffy, and Craig could swear his testosterone levels went down with every visit he made. Was Heidi really eighteen?

A form shifted on the bed, and Heidi turned her red, puffy, tear-streaked face towards him, before she covered her eyes in shame and faced the other direction.

He was going to _kill_ Kevin C., if it was the last thing he did.

Heidi was still dressed in date garb, a green, houndstooth-print skirt and a feminine blouse that showcased her cheerleader-trim waist. Craig admitted to himself that it had to be his favorite outfit of hers.

Purposefully striding over, he ignored the possibility of simply walking around the bed and kicked off his sandals before crawling across it, crouching in socked feet and gingerly resting a hand on Heidi's shoulder.

She promptly started sobbing, causing Craig to fall gracelessly out of his position from the surprise, furthered more when Heidi turned once more and threw her arms around his neck, crying into his shoulder. He could only put his own arms around her, patting her back with a hand that he suddenly felt was too large and heavy.

This continued for a while, Heidi's arm eventually unwinding from around Craig's shoulders so her hand could grasp onto his hoodie. She lifted her head away from his chest for a breath, resting her forehead against him instead while she audibly gulped for air.

"… Thanks," She finally whispered, after a last shuddering breath.

"No problem." Craig had adjusted himself so that Heidi was sitting between his legs, resting his chin on her head and holding her comfortably. "It's what I'm here for."

"I don't know why I keep going back to him," Heidi whispered bitterly. "It's like he has me on a leash… Every time he pulls it, I just come like some stupid puppy…"

"I think you just need to go find someone new…" Craig responded honestly, leaning back a little to look at her. "You've been with him since freshman year."

"I know." Heidi gave him a wobbling smile. "I probably do need that…"

She leaned back against him, and they fell into a comfortable silence, sitting in a darkness that was broken only by the angry red numerals glaring from Heidi's digital clock.

"… You know what's dumb?" Heidi piped up suddenly, and Craig grunted to confirm that he was listening. "Sometimes I feel like I stay with him because I won't get anybody else."

"That's not true." Craig pouted as he gave her a sharp poke in the ticklish part of her belly, and Heidi let out a high-pitched shriek of a laugh.

"Heidi?" Her stepfather barked through the thin walls. "What are you doing?"

"Watching TV, Dad!" Heidi called back, before she retaliated with a hard poke of her own. "You know not to tickle me!"

"Right, right." For the first time since he'd been there, Craig grinned roguishly. "Anyway, I know for a fact that that wouldn't be true. Tweek has it pretty bad for you."

Okay, so maybe he wasn't supposed to divulge that information. That conveniently slipped his mind.

"… Tweek?" Heidi asked with sudden interest. "I thought he was gay."

"Nah, he's just shy." Craig smirked at the thought of the petite, jittery blonde, and the bug-eyed look of pure panic he made every time Heidi breezed past him. "Girls don't give him much mind."

"He's so sweet, though," Heidi murmured sympathetically. "At least, around me."

"Well, now you know why." Craig absent-mindedly rubbed her arm as he spoke. "He can really be a little asshole when he wants, but it's more funny than anything… I can't take him seriously most of the time, anyway."

Heidi giggled softly, and Craig knew he'd managed to make her feel a least a little better. "So, what? Are you interested?"

"In Tweek?" Heidi paused in consideration. "I never thought about it."

"… Well," Craig's face darkened. "He's better than that ugly bastard." Heidi cringed, but he needed to get a jab on Kevin in somewhere.

"Stop, Craig." He made a sound of consent, and returned to resting his chin on her head. "Your chin is pointy."

"Well, I can't help that. Complain to my mom." They both chuckled quietly before he caught a glance at Heidi's clock. It was almost ten. "I'm gonna get going, girl." He let go of Heidi and shuffled around the bed, sliding his sandals back on. "You going to be alright?"

Heidi swung herself off of the bed in an exaggerated show of confidence. "When am I NOT alright?" She asked, with a saucy flip of her sandy brown hair. When Craig rolled his eyes, she smiled and nodded. "I'll be fine. I'm glad you came, though…" She went to him, enveloping him in one last hug. "I really didn't want to be alone."

"Anything for you, babe." Craig smiled warmly as he returned the embrace, before he carefully climbed back out the window. "See you on Monday."

As he wandered back to his car, Craig cursed the new snow seeping through his socks. As soon as that grievance was shrugged off, he paused to look back up at Heidi's window, just as a light inside came back on.

A/N: Reviews are yummy in my tummy. -heart-


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